


Falling For You

by pollitt



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsmooch, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-02
Updated: 2008-04-02
Packaged: 2017-10-05 14:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollitt/pseuds/pollitt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"We love that which we have suffered for." --Leon Festinger</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling For You

**Author's Note:**

> Cliches are discussed, the earth moves, and John and Rodney banter even when injured. Thank you to Maverick and Data785 for their suggestions, beta, and support.

"God this is such a cliche." Rodney manages to say through clenched, chattering teeth (something he was previously unaware could actually be _done_). He uses his good arm--the one that didn't snap like a dry twig when he fell--to pull the emergency blanket up to just under his chin.

_/It was supposed to be a simple scouting mission. Lorne, Ronon and four marines had taken North, East and South of the gate while John and Rodney had gone West. The snow had started almost immediately and the temperature had dropped a good 20 degrees in as many minutes. They'd been standing, just standing, when the ground started shifting. John had started to slip and Rodney caught him. And then the ground gave out from under him./_

"It would be even more so if you were worse off and I had to nurse you through it," John answers, propping himself higher against the stone wall, gritting his teeth through the pain radiating from his left leg and up through his entire body. He's pretty sure if he leaned forward and loosened his boot, he'd see exactly where the break is.

_/They'd been standing, consulting a life signs detector and deciding their next move when the ground groaned and Rodney started to fall. John reached for him when the ground opened up and he was falling./_

"Or if you were. Leaving me to take care of us, to build the shelter, find food, protecting us, finding my inner strength and all that crap." Rodney wants to check his watch, until he remembers it's on his broken arm and any thought of moving it makes the bile rise in his throat.

_/After those initial moments of breath-stealing pain following their fall and sudden stop, they'd called for help. Lorne had taken the jumper back through the gate to get medical help and rescue supplies. It feels like it's been hours, but since Rodney's ass hasn't frozen through, he's betting it hasn't been that long./_

"And there'd be more snow." John reaches into his pack for a PowerBar only to find it's as hard as a rock.

"Our radios would be lost or broken, and we'd have to wait for Lorne and Ronon to realize we're missing. Of course then they'd have to find us." Rodney manages to slide a couple of inches closer to John.

_/John had scooted over to Rodney, helping him to sit up._

"How the hell did we--" Rodney asked, shaking cobwebs from his thoughts.

"You were falling--" John started.

"You slipped," Rodney corrected him, touching John's face and looking for signs of concussion.

"**Someone** had to save you." John returned the favor, brushing his hand over Rodney's forehead looking for any signs of blood and checking his pupils.

"I could say the same thing about you."/

"And while we waited I'd make some tearful--or at least choked up--plea for you to hold on. I'd probably say more than I should, not knowing if we'd make it." John shifts the last couple of inches to his right, until he's pressed against Rodney's side, from shoulder to hip to ankle. "And then you'd know."

"Except I already know. Unless you forgot your last seemingly suicidal mission against the Wraith. This would've been the perfect time for such a confession."

"I thought I did perfectly fine then. The kiss good-bye before running off toward certain doom was a great opportunity." John levels a challenging look in Rodney's direction.

_/You would think, after the number of times Atlantis--and more to the point, John--had plotted and executed the detonation of a Hive Ship, that the Wraith would catch on, but they hadn't. And like so many times before, John was going to pilot the ship that was going to deliver the warhead, and, again, Rodney would be on Atlantis, watching a small blip fly toward a larger, hive-shaped blip on the radar. But before John left this time, he had grabbed Rodney's waist, had pulled him close and kissed him hard, fast, and desperate._

When John had returned, successful and very much alive, Rodney grabbed him by his flight suit and dragged him into his quarters where they'd spent the next several hours working off a lot of built up adrenaline./

"I'll give you that one." Rodney tosses half of the blanket over John's waist with his good arm and John catches it, shifting so it covers his legs. "It was perfectly executed--dramatic, tense and heartbreaking. But stuck in an old room or whatever the hell this is, the two of us, alone, with a broken arm and leg, waiting for help... This would've been pretty good too."

"Yeah, well hindsight's 20-20, as they say."

"I'm just saying," Rodney answers, moving his good arm and blinking rapidly as the stars cloud his vision and he hears the ocean rushing in his ears. He slides his arm over John's shoulder, bringing their bodies closer.

"Fine." John turns and presses his chilled lips just below Rodney's jaw. "Rodney, you're not going to die, you can't. I won't let you. Help's going to be here soon and we'll be up and out, safe and warm in no time. I need you too damn much."

Pulling back, John takes in Rodney's profile--smiling with his eyes closed.

"How was that?" John asks.

"Pretty good. Less emotional than you could've been, but seeing as how I'm not on death's door..."

"How about you do the declaring. There's nothing that says it has to be me." John kisses Rodney's jaw quickly. "It's your turn anyway."

Rodney lifts his hand from John's shoulder and, awkwardly thanks to the angle, cards his fingers against the grain of John's hair. He stops, reaching to tip John's chin to look up at him. "I love you. So damn much."

"That was completely-- How do you--" With just six words, Rodney's knocked John off of his feet and stolen his higher brain functions.

John reaches up and grabs Rodney's collar, pulling down as Rodney leans in. The kiss is off-balance and far from glamorous, but they know how to adapt.

_/In the weeks since that first kiss, they've been stealing moments wherever they can find them._

The brushing of shoulders as they walk along Atlantis's corridors.

A hand resting against the small of the back in the lab, the control room, waiting in Sam's office.

More than one rendezvous in an empty room, pressing each other up against the door--biting, kissing, sucking at skin.

And nights when Rodney wasn't working in the lab and John didn't have another crisis to avert, they could peel one another out of their clothes, leaving a trail all the way to the bed, fingers and lips mapping each other's bodies until they knew the other as well as their own./

They hear the jumper setting down on the ground and the rear hatch open, followed by the sounds of Lorne, Ronon, Dr. Keller and her team.

"Should we move?" Rodney asks, rubbing his hand over John's arm.

"Are you going to plead with Keller to take care of me and make me better?" John rests his cheek on Rodney's shoulder.

"If you want me to." Rodney smiles, pressing a kiss to the top of John's head.

"Colonel Sheppard? Dr. McKay?" Lorne's voice echoes against the walls and his head appears at the opening of the sinkhole.

"We're down here, Major." John answers, not moving from Rodney's side.

"What happened?" Lorne asks, leaning forward tentatively to get a better look at them.

"Rodney looked at me and the earth moved."

"Well, sir, I think you're in over your head." Lorne deadpans.

"You could say that. It hurts like hell, but I'll survive." He's been head over heels for Rodney for a long time now. He was used to it.


End file.
